Ikustaka
by Keikyoku
Summary: A group of S-Class rogue ninja is put together as an opposing force against Akatsuki. Little do they know that Akatsuki is pretty much dead. . . OC's.
1. Chapter 1

Ikustaka

"White Side Speech"

"**Black Side Speech**"

"_White Side Thought"_

"_**Black Side Thought"**_

**Chapter 1**

Along a dark road on the outskirts of the Hidden Cloud Village walked a very strange man. He stood around 6' 8", and had an awkward stride. He wore a large black cloak covered with lightning bolts, and on his back was a large staff, in the shape of a rose. But the strangest two things were: 1) he had rose petals protruding from his neck, and 2) the right side of his body was completely black, with his right eye and the right side of his mouth closed, while his left side was a normal tan color.

He continued his stride as if he had some great purpose that he had to attend to. Soon, he'd come close to his target. In the distance, he saw the shape of a man, 6' even with a large build, cutting down trees for wood.

Then, rose petal man, Keikyoku, stopped and began to get a look of concentration on the left side of his face. Immediately, he began to emit a strange mist from all over his body, and it began to spread out. Within the next minute, it'd grown large and dense enough to be of use to him.

Keikyoku began to walk again, and the mist magically followed him, keeping him in the center of the mass. Even then, Keikyoku was still putting more chakra into it, increasing its size and strength. It didn't take long before the fog began to circle the burly man.

The man quickly became cautious, and held the axe in a fighting position, ready to be used. Keikyoku expressionlessly closed the distance between him and the man, and spoke.

"I am here because the Ikustaka wishes to make use of you," he said politely, "please do not make me use force."

The man sniffed the air, and turned to Keikyoku with an feral glare.

"I ain't going anywhere with you," he practically yelled, "I know what you want, and you won't get it without a fight!"

Then, the near-crazed man rushed Keikyoku, using his axe as a weapon. Keikyoku simply used his great speed to dodge the axe as it was swung. But, Keikyoku could see the werewolf in this man: the greater than average speed, strength and dexterity.

But, Keikyoku could also tell that the man wasn't trained in ninjutsu, only taijutsu. That would make it easier.

He continued dodging, until the man seemed to get an increase in his speed and was able to almost keep up with the rose-petalled man. Just as soon as he'd gotten the boost, though, he began to slow, and Keikyoku allowed himself to smirk. The mist was doing its job, and draining the man's chakra.

The man quickly realized that something was wrong. After a few seconds of thought, it appeared that he'd ascertained the source of his chakra loss. He immediately turned, and made a run to try and get out of the mist.

He ran as fast as he could in a random direction for several minutes, but, still, the mist surrounded him. He had become baffled up until the point where Keikyoku rose out of the ground not ten feet behind him.

"You bastard," the wolf-man uttered in grim realization, "you can move through the ground faster than I can run. . ."

Keikyoku simply nodded and stepped closer, "You can still give in, and come peacefully."

"Never, you damn freak!" he yelled and began the transformation that marked his bloodline. His mouth shot forward into a muzzle, as the rest of his body began to grow fur. He also began to sprout claws and his teeth became razor-sharp. Keikyoku could hear the cracking of bones as the man's were re-knit in a new way. Finally, his ears moved to the top of his head, he sprouted a tail, and his eyes took on a yellow color.

But, Keikyoku barely noticed any of the transformation. The man's battery had thrown him over the edge of his self-control. The eye and part of mouth on the left side of his face had begun to close, as the eye and the part of his mouth on his right side began to open. The wolf-man finished, he began to stare into the red eye of absolute rage.

"**How dare you insult me, you godless son of a piggly-ass whore! You will fall in defeat!"** yelled the black side of Keikyoku, or 'Yoku' as he preferred to be called.

Instantly, Yoku launched into a full on attack to the werewolf. Wolfy was fast, but he was nowhere near as fast as a pissed-off Yoku.

He tried clawing at the man as Yoku ran circles around him, but was only able to catch air. After quite a few misses, it was obvious that the wolf-man was becoming frustrated. Strangely, this frustration only gave the wolf more power. A not-so-lucky hit later, and Yoku was on the ground without a left arm.

Yoku became extremely mad by this point. When the wolf tried to claw off Yoku's other arm, he found himself unable to complete the slash. He looked up dumbly to see a thorned vine wrapped around his right arm. When he looked back down, he saw that Yoku had extended the vine from his index finger.

Then, Yoku extended three more from his other three fingers. Soon, he had the wolf-man off of the ground, a vine around each wrist and a vine around each ankle.

Yoku then flicked his hand and the wolf was slammed into a nearby tree. The tree seemed to absorb the wolf-man into itself, and, not long after, the only thing showing was his ugly face, with his mouth covered up of course.

"**Capture complete,"** Yoku said scornfully. But, before he gave control back to Keikyoku, he walked over to another tree, and lay his hand on it. After another look of concentration, Yoku could feel the natural energy start to flow into him. His missing arm quickly began to reconstruct itself, and was soon fully functional.

Then, Yoku relinquished control, and the left side of the faced had opened up again, inversely closing the right side.

"You should have just came peacefully," Keikyoku spoke to the caged wolf.

First he absorbed the mist, reacquiring his own chakra and separating the wolf-man's chakra to a different area of his body for steady, then he lay his newly fixed hand on the tree, and Keikyoku and the tree began to descend into the earth. After a few seconds of darkness, and a quick-transit jutsu, they came upon the underground catacombs that housed Ikustaka's test labs.

Keikyoku approached a nearby member, Talon, a man with a falcon beak instead of a mouth, feathers covering his whole body, and fully functional wings sprouting from his arms, and asked if he knew where Shade, our leader, was.

"She's where she always is, Keikyoku. Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do," he answered without moving his beak at all, or even looking at Keikyoku, before he was on his way.

Keikyoku was used to such reactions from people, so he went to the place that Shade could normally be found: the dark room.

A few hundred feet below the surface sat the test labs, and another couple of hundred feet below that sat a gigantic room that had no light at all. This was Shade's room, as it was where she was most powerful. Very few could even see in this room, making even more deadly to those entering. There was also no door, limiting the entrants even farther to basically me and Shade.

I reached the wall that I normally used, and began to use my jutsu. The moment I reached the wall, I began to move through it. It was a thick wall so it took several seconds before I reached the other side.

I entered the room so big that no one even knows its exact size, and began to use my Tougyo, my bloodline that gives extraordinary control over my chakra, to send out bits of chakra that bounced back and gave me a picture of the room, sort of like sonar. I quickly deduced her location, and Shushined over to her.

"What news do you bring me?" Shade spoke in her flat emotionless tones, similar to Keikyoku's but filled with far more hidden malice.

"The werewolf has been detained, and my tree has taken him to Lab G for testing, as requested," Keikyoku answered in his own emotionless tone.

"Very good," she spoke halfheartedly, as if she didn't really think so, "you may go," then before Keikyoku could leave, "I might drop in later."

"As it pleases you," Keikyoku replied, and took his leave.

After Keikyoku had given the news, he'd immediately quick-transited to his home underground near the Grass Village. The place was a sort of large underground plant preserve, using top-of-the-line lights that mimicked the sun's rays.

The entire area was full of every plant species you could think of, plus a few that had gone extinct until Keikyoku had revived them. With these resources, he'd been named the medicinal herb provider of the Ikustaka.

The only reason he'd put this collection together was to try and cure himself of his dark side, Yoku, that had grown so powerful those many years ago. Keikyoku began to remember that day when his parents had told him that he was adopted. How he'd almost completely decimated the whole Bakeyo clan, the wielders of the artificially made Tougyo that had to be given to its members by the elders.

He remembered how Yoku had taken control and killed his adoptive parents, who he had still loved deeply.

He pushed such thoughts away, and went back to the concoction he'd been mixing, using Meladona root blended with Rose stems to try and counteract a sample of Yoku's brain tissue, and revert to what it was. Unfortunately, it simply burned up, the tissue sample completely unaffected.

Keikyoku had seen too many failures like this to get bent up by it. He just moved on to his next idea, without a word on the previous failure.

"Still no luck," came the flat voice of his boss. Inversely, how he was the only one that could get into her room, she was the only one that could get into his home. He turned to see her walking out of one of the few shadows present in his sanctum.

"No," he said, finally showing a small bit of his frustration.

She didn't say anymore. Keikyoku had a chance to allow the man he used to be resurface, and began to admire the sight of his leader. She had long, brunette hair, about to mid-back but currently in a ponytail, with black streaks through it. She stood at a 5' even, almost two foot shorter than Keikyoku, and was leanly muscled with a sexually appealing figure. Her face was sharp, with sharp cheek bones and baby blue eyes rounded by red. All in all, she was quite beautiful.

But, Keikyoku wasn't that man anymore. Now, he simply made a small acknowledgment of it, and started to hope she would leave soon. He had things to do, ideas to test.

He was momentarily caught off guard when she rounded on him, and began to press her body against him suggestively. She rubbed his arm with her petite hand, and stared into his eyes with her baby blue's.

"What do you say we have some fun?" she asked, putting obviously faked emotion into the question. On any other man, it would have worked. But, Keikyoku knew this game, and he hadn't lost it yet.

"Nice try, Shade," he said with an extremely small chuckle and slight smile, "but you still haven't gotten there yet. You _are_ getting closer, though."

She returned his smile with a smirk of her own, but, a split second later, it was gone. Then, she was back to business.

"Naro was bitten by our new inmate a few minutes ago," she returned to her flat tone, "we need a cure for the virus."

"I have it," Keikyoku left and came back with a box of viles that were filled to the brim with red liquid.

"The dosing would normally be one vile," he recited while handing over the box, "but, for Naro, I would suggest two."

She nodded, and back-stepped into the shadows, seemingly sucked up by them.

Keikyoku turned back to his experiments, and began the next one.


	2. Chapter 2

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Please READ~!

Hello everyone! This is Pyramid-Head. I've written the second and third chapter sof this fanfic, and I apologize for it taking so long to get out. I'm also the co-author of this fanfic with Keikyoku. :D I hope you enjoy.

2

As she walked through the shadows, delicate serums in hand, Shade pushed all thoughts and questions aside. She's never questioned Keikyoku before, and won't start now. He's always been one step ahead of the game with such things like the catastrophe at hand now.

Was always a talented and brilliant . . . Man, if you could say that? But like she and anyone else who's seen Keikyoku up front and personal, knew he wasn't one. At least, not feature wise with his plant and floral like design.

Shade stepped out of a patch of shadows in the corner of a room. It was small, at least in comparison to most rooms in the base, and distastefully too white. Her baby blue eyes were dim in the comparison to the too bright white in the room, making the dark, red rings around her irises even darker.

She scanned the room and her eyes settled on a huge metal slab that held a bonded man to its top. He was gargantuan compared to the flimsy metal and it's four, thick legs that were burdened with the weight of both. If this man stood fully erect, he'd be 13' even. But that wasn't the strangest part to come.

Shade walked over to the slab, the man all too still, her tightly, brown ponytailed hair swaying from side to side with her sashaying hips. She looked down at the man with unblinking eyes, bending her body over the being to see if he was still even breathing. Then, suddenly, the man jumped up in Shade's face.

She just blinked unpleasant eyes down at the man like many times before. She's never liked Naro, and also won't be another thing she'll start. Narrowing her eyes, Naro laughed a full, deep rumbling bass of a sound. It sounded like a steam roller doing its job on a cement road.

"Glad to see that pleased you," Shade spoke, voice monotone, the icy coldness of her intent hidden carefully.

"Aw, come on Bossy. Relax a bit. It was just a fright." Naro laughed at his own inside joke.

Shade narrowed her eyes again, anger boiling beneath her skin. _"I hope you scream in pain when I inject you with the serum."_ She thought viciously to herself. She placed the wooden box on a nearby, sparkling white counter top of the room, and removed several vials, grabbing several needles as well.

"Ooooh, what's that?" Naro questioned his unofficial leader as he eyed the red liquid in several small, glass vials. Shade ignored him with a cold, calculating 'hmm'. She filled each needle to full capacity with the red liquid, pushing down on the ends to squirt out any air.

It'd be too bad if any got into Naro's system and he had an accidentle lack of breath from oxygen deposits in his blood vessels. Shade turned back to the man, four needles in hand, which was one more than Keikyoku prescribed, but not like she cared.

"Pretty bubblesssss…." Naro whispered, drawling out the s in a child-like voice. Gods, he was annoying.

She held them out edgily, the needles looking like the knives of Kruger's right gloved hand. Shade looked at the man. At Naro, her icy blue's staring into the bright reds of his eyes. His face was shadowed by a charcoal black hoodie.

Two of his four arms were clothed, the other two bare, but all four were bonded to the metal slab he lay on with titanium bands. Yes, he had four arms. They were heavy, long and thick with muscle. Shade inwardly grimaced. All that muscle just didn't do it for her.

Naro just looked at her; his loosely clad legs with black jeans were crumpled as he sat motionlessly. His chest rising and falling with each breath wasn't even visible. Shade over looked Naro again, and smirked for a brief second before she plunged the needles into the bare flesh of his arm closest to her. She knew Naro flinched as the full red orb of one eye dimmed then brightened again.

It was the only indication of pain Naro ever showed for anything. When Shade pushed the ends of the needles in, the red liquid rushed up Naro's arm, then neck, in vibrant neon lines, outlining any vein they enthused through.

Shade relinquished the needles of Naro's arm and stepped back for the serum to take effect. She knew the virus was fully active, throbbing through his veins. She could smell it. It was overtaking his body, then the serum hit. She could hear Naro's blood speed up before his actual breath hitched as the serum and virus of the inmate clashed.

Naro laid back, his breathing deep and erratic as Shade back-stepped like she did in Keikyoku's sanctuary. The shadows once again swallowed her up as she left Naro to have spastic convulsions. She didn't' care if he lived or not.

As Shade moved through the shadows of the base, she looked in on several members. Talon, being the first she saw, who was manufacturing some sort of weaponry like always. She brushed past him, a lithe finger trailing along the edge of one wing span. His feathers ruffled, and she vanished like always. Next was Bubbles. A very odd man of sorts. He was a surfer of attitude and definitely made for the waves.

His face was a pale blue, like the sky with a long, ridged nose like a swordfish. His hands had thin films of webbing between them and a spiny tail that looked like a crocodile's own. His teeth were sharp when Shade glanced his way from a dark patch of shadows as he smiled half heartedly, his 6, 2 stature overlooking her easily.

She decided to go scouting as she visited each room in the base, nothing else of interest she wished to do. But not before running into a tiny predicament. It was human, and annoying. At least to her the person was. It was Kylarra. She was about 5, 3 in height, with short, down spiked, rainbow colored hair.

The young girl was also of average proportion, but her personality was not. Her laughter was joyously maniacal, but also came in twenty-something different forms. Besides that, she was energetic, loved to inconvenience people, do things the hard way, and do the exact opposite of what people say.

Shade's eyes were unblinking and cold as Kylarra rambled on and on and on about chocolate pudding and orange slushies. She let out an exuberated breath, the corner of her lip twitching as the shadows all about them thickened with her agitation, but she with held her outburst for now, Kylarra oblivious to her rising anger. Shade focused on Kylarra's ridiculous outfit instead of the babble spewing from her mouth.

She inwardly shuddered at Kylarra's choice of clothing. Kylarra wore a flashy, sparkling yellow plaid shirt with a pleated, yellow kilt. Her shoes were also yellow, but different shades in polka dot patterns. Having enough of Kylarra's talk, which was now, somehow, on her seeing a giant green, pink striped dinosaur in the kitchen.

She walked away, stepping into a strip of darkness like many times before now, and ended up on the outside of the base. But what Shade didn't know, was that Kylarra transformed into a spoon and somehow flipped herself directly into the temporarily boss' back pocket. It was cloudy, a light mist surrounding the area. The sun was hidden, the wind whistling eerily as dead, dry leaves fell from the trees above her petite form.

It was perfect weather for Shade. She went to step forward, to scout around as she does bi-daily for any intruders, but instead, Shade stopped in mid-step, and looked up. Right in front of her were dazzling pink eyes with three black dots, like on a moth's wings, under each of her eyes, about a foot above her own.

"Tsuna . . ." Shade said that one word. That one name and it held all you could ever imagine of what the Boogey Man could actually do with you if you were still a child, alone with him, on crack, and gay.


	3. Chapter 3

1

Shade blinked, her lip twitching. After dealing with Naro, did she really have to deal with Tsuna? What did she do to deserve to put up with two immature people in one day? Scratch that. Three immature people. She completely forgot about Kylarra. Oh. And wait. Shade knew what she did. She slaughtered her parents, closest family and so called friends.

Ahhhh… What a glorious day that was. So much blood and gore everywhere. Shade could recount how happy she was dancing and meddling in the cooling blood of her slaughtered life she once had. Unfortunately, she couldn't remise too long.

A sudden, rapid shaking stirred Shade from her reminiscing, making her turn her vibrant, blue eyes to Tsuna, the red rings around them glinting with bloodlust. Shade stared at Tsuna for quite awhile, the girl grinning like a foolish brat back at her.

Tsuna's lips reached from ear to ear, showing off bleached white teeth of her perfect 'A Okay' smile. Shade narrowed her eyes, her usual glare of disgust and anger not affecting Tsuna one bit. She was used to it after all, and loved messing around with her Boss-san as she called Shade.

Tsuna stepped back, relinquishing Shade's shoulders, and giggled. Gods, Shade should be scouting the surrounding area, but it was rare to run into Tsuna. She needed to get the girl back to Keikyoku as soon as possible for testing.

"Oh Boss-san. I love when you glare at me. It's soooo cute." Tsuna spoke all giddy. She spun in a circle, her long, raven black hair flying about that reached mid-back. She whistled and stopped, looking at Shade to see her fuming.

Shade's right eye was twitching, lips set in a snarl, and hands clenched into tight fists to the point that blood dripped from where her nails punctured her palm. The red rings around Shade's eyes were now a bright, crimson red, overshadowing the bright baby blue by at least a dozen shades.

All Tsuna could do was stare at the red outline, a confused look on her face, then she smiled again. Poking Shade's reddening cheeks; she giggled once more and gave Shade a tight hug.

"You're soooo adorable Boss-san!" Tsuna squealed next to Shade's ear before stepping back yet again, her Ikustka cloak reaching her ankles, the lightening patterns contrasting greatly against the black fabric and red outlining.

Shade sighed, highly aggravated, but shook her head, knowing that she'd never be able to change Tsuna till the youthful girl pulled up that headband that hung loosely around her tiny neck. Once that was up, all bets were off, and a horde of people died simultaneously.

"What's wrong Boss-san?" Tsuna pouted her full, rosy red lips.

Shade stayed quiet like usual, blinking occasionally. She normally didn't talk back to Tsuna. Mostly because anything she said set the unusually chipper girl off. Before Shade could do anything, Tsuna pulled out a plate of crumpets and scones, and an old Chinese pot of hot tea. She shrugged her shoulders as her reply to the girl's randomness.

"Do you want any?" The pink eyed girl asked, and Shade shook her head after making Tsuna wait so long with a long pause of staring. Instead, Shade held her hand out, which was crusted with blood, but the wounds healed because of her shadows. She extended a finger and beckoned Tsuna closer with it, and the girl obliged willingly.

Tsuna tossed the plate away, but swallowed the pot of tea, before discarding that too. Shade grimaced at the gluttony, wondering what exactly happened to this girl when she was younger.

"Yes, Boss-san?" Tsuna queried, but with a huge smile on her face.

"We need to go see Keikyoku." Shade responded in a flat tone.

With a sigh, Tsuna nodded, solemn for once. Shade took her hand in hers, and walked backwards into the shadow of the tree, the darkness engulfing her and then Tsuna. Shade stepped out, Tsuna at her back, clutching her shoulders tightly. Even with Tsuna's hidden dark side, as the bright, happy-go-lucky chit she is at the moment, the shadows have always frightened the young lass quite a bit.

Unfortunately, instead of stepping out of the shadows to see Keikyoku calmly working on experiments, whether they are failures or not in the end, 'Yoku' was out, his fists rounding on a familiar feathered companion of the Ikustka. It was Talon on closer inspection.

There were feathers cradling to the floor in a rainfall, and blood splattered everyone. The crimson liquid was even dripping ever so slowly from counter tops, and into unused vials that held Keikyoku's usual concoctions.

"That is enough Yoku." Shade's voice sounded loud and clear, ringing off the walls, making any shadow, no matter how minute in Keikyoku's sanctuary wiggle, and squirm, expanding. Not even the high powered UV lights were able to surmise the once fragile darkness that lurked in the corners.

Now, it was up to 'Yoku' to listen. If he didn't, well… Shade will just have to deal with him. So sad if she had too, though. Unable to get her hands on him like Shade wanted to before Keikyoku's death if need be would only be a minor loss to her. There were others of course.

Tsuna was cowering behind Shade, hands dug into the petite boss' shoulders, shaking. The girl's entire body was shaking; making Shade vibrate along with it. In a balled up, cowardly position behind Shade, Tsuna was safest, just in case 'Yoku' decided not to respond to her, and fly into a frenzy on them.


End file.
